


The Foxhole Cabin

by attfna



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Andreil, Barbecue, Beach Day, Bon Fire, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Kissing, M/M, Picnic, Popsicles, Post-Canon, Reunion, Water Fight, aftgsummer, aftgsummer2020, day trip, hot day, og foxes, outdoor sports, roller skating, soft andreil, sun lotion, swimwear, tan times
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:13:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 18,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25692619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/attfna/pseuds/attfna
Summary: Post-canon - little drabbles that take place right after Neil graduates from PSU.Created for AFTGSummer2020Also y'all know I don't have stuff beta-ed so if there are mistakes mind ya business.
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Comments: 13
Kudos: 124
Collections: AFTG Summer 2020





	1. Hot day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neil and Andrew make it to the cabin where they plan to spend two weeks with the original Foxes before they go back to their lives - Andrew back to his pro team in Atlanta, and Neil to start his life in Virginia as a rookie.
> 
> ~*~
> 
> All credit to Nora, I own nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rated T for now but it might go up. If it does I will edit the rating and make sure to check the chapter ratings. 
> 
> ~*~
> 
> CHAPTER RATING: T

It wasn’t often Neil found himself alone with Andrew, especially not since Andrew had graduated and left Neil to finish his last year at PSU. But they’d been so exhausted the night before that they’d fallen into bed the moment they dragged themselves up the cabin's wooden steps. 

It was May. Neil had graduated two days before – walked across the stage at Palmetto State to collect his fake-diploma and finally, he wasn’t afraid to be seen. Finally, there wasn’t even a hint of the urge to run, not even under the scrutiny of hundreds of strangers eyes. Andrew had made the trip – his team having been booted out of the semi-finals. Matt’s team had lost their first death match weeks earlier so he and Dan had also driven down from Pittsburgh for the occasion. Kevin’s team had moved onto the finals so he’d been absent from the ceremony – but the older striker had been sure to call Neil and give him a congratulations speech that somehow rolled into a ‘don’t fuck this up, you are about to go pro so do not do anything stupid’ speech. Neil let him drone on for about ten minutes before he set the phone aside and let Kevin continue to harp on about whatever and eventually noticed he must have figured it out Neil was no longer listening since the call cut out at twelve minutes. It’s not like he wouldn’t be seeing Neil in just over a week anyways to berate him in person. 

Somehow, it had all worked out so the original Foxes had planned a vacation to celebrate Neil’s graduation and acceptance to the Tidewater Egrets professional team. He had just over three weeks before he would leave for training. Which meant two of them would be spent vacationing with the Foxes and one blissful week would be spent alone with Andrew at his apartment in Atlanta before he had to drive to Virginia and get settled into his own place. 

But he was pretty sure it wasn’t just his graduation they wanted to celebrate. Neil had been floundering the last few months of school, knowing the end of his life at PSU was approaching. He was happy to start his new life and to play exy with a new team – but there was something bittersweet about leaving the first place he’d ever known as home. The last couple months had been filled with dozens of skype calls and texts and he knew the Foxes could sense his anxiousness. This was their way of consoling him. They knew how much the Foxhole Court meant to Neil and knew leaving it would nearly kill him. 

When the day finally came, Neil felt a sort of calm he was almost wary of. Andrew was there, along with Matt and Dan. Coach and Abby and even Bee were at his side. Abby even live-streamed the actual ceremony so the other Foxes could check-in. When he’d gone for his final run around campus that evening it eventually took Andrew showing up to drag him from the center of the court and back to their dorms so Neil could get a few hours of sleep before they left Fox Tower for the last time. But he’d gone to bed feeling at peace. 

The next day had been split between visiting everyone at Abby's and packing up the rest of his belongings. That evening, he and Andrew had split everything between the Maserati and Neil’s new Audi – the most expensive thing he owned and something that nearly sent him into a panic attack when he thought about how much money he’d spent on it. He’d let Andrew pick it out over winter break since the goalkeeper had refused to ride in the Prius Neil had hinted he was buying. They pulled away from Perimeter road and headed northwest, towards the mountains, leaving the university in the rear-view. 

Neil blinked awake the next day and immediately squinted at the light streaming through the floor to ceiling windows. In their haste to sleep the night before they had forgotten to draw the curtains. He could feel the heat of the sun streaming in and knew it was oppressively hot outside. He vaguely remembered something about a heat wave on the news. 

Apparently, they also should have checked the thermostat when they’d arrived because the heat wasn’t much better in the house either. He noticed at some point in the night they’d kicked the sheets down to the foot of the bed and Andrew had discarded both his shirt and pajama pants and was now star-fishing across the bed, having relegated Neil to the outer most edge of the mattress. Neil smirked and watched him for a few moments before the weight of his stare must have woken the blond. Andrew’s lids fluttered open and he cut his eyes sideways at Neil, the blank expression he’d adopted during his sleep turning to a frown. 

“Why is it a fucking furnace in here?” 

“Maybe because you’re just so hot?” said Neil immediately, brain-to-mouth filter not quite awake yet. Not that it did him much good when it was. 

Andrew’s head dropped to the side so he could fix Neil with his most unimpressed stare. 

“Right,” said Neil, lip twitching even as he shook his head. “Forget I said that. Cold shower?” 

They pulled themselves from the bed and Neil stripped the sheets since they were damp with sweat and tossed them in the corner. Once they had collected their things the pair navigated around each other in the large, attached bathroom. It would be hours before the others were due to arrive so they took their time. 

After shaving, brushing their teeth, and taking turns relieving themselves – Andrew cut the shower on and made sure the water stayed a nice, cool temperature before stepping in. Suddenly the weather didn’t matter anymore, and Neil’s attention was narrowed down to the cool spray and pale expanse of Andrew’s bare skin, blue eyes tracking little rivers of water rolling down toned muscles. Andrew pulled Neil in behind him and pressed him against the wall until he was hot all over for an entirely different reason. Who needed the sun when you could make your own heat?


	2. Swimwear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day two prompt - Swimwear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Allison spoils the team, for once Andrew appreciates her efforts. 
> 
> ~*~
> 
> All credit to Nora, I own nothing.

Dan and Matt had rolled into the cabin around lunchtime the day before with Allison and Renee in tow. The couple had stayed behind to pick the girls up from the airport since their flights came in around the same time – Allison's from NYC and  Renee's from Chicago. Nicky had arrived that evening, exhausted from his flights but still frustratingly energetic. The setting sun brought with it slightly cooler temperatures, but Neil and Andrew had nearly wilted under the days heat and wanted nothing more than to crawl back under the clean sheets of the now blissfully air-conditioned room. They stayed up long enough to greet everyone but were grateful for the reprieve. 

When Neil woke on Monday it was to the sound of car doors slamming repeatedly. Despite flying in, it seemed as though Allison had packed like she was moving to Europe rather than spending two weeks at a lake house. Matt helped her haul several trunks into the house and Neil finally heard the tell-tale beep of the doors on Matt’s Land Rover being locked again. 

“What’s all this?” asked Neil, yawning and rubbing sleep from his eyes as he stepped into the living room. 

He was normally an early riser but assumed the combination of exhaustion day before and spending his morning cocooned under the blankets with Andrew had kept him sleeping in past eight. 

“Presents,” answered Allison, giving him a once over that he felt was more than just judging his rumpled pajamas and wild curls sticking up in every direction. 

Neil quirked a brow and Allison rolled her eyes. 

“Don’t be so suspicious,” she said, clicking her tongue. “You should know by now I just like to spoil you.”

Renee and Dan wandered over, coffee and tea in hand, to investigate the scene. Allison popped the lids of both trunks to reveal layers of folded clothing and a few garment bags. She reached down and started pulling items from the container, looking at the names she’d written on the plastic. The bags went to Renee and Dan and then she started digging through loose items. She thrust a few at Neil and Matt, and then more, and more, until their arms were overflowing with cloth. 

“Uh ..... ” Neil blanked. 

“My new sports line for  FoxFyre ?” said Allison, annoyed. “I’ve only been texting you about it for months.”

At Neil’s continued blank stare, she rolled her eyes. “Ugh you’re impossible just...go try stuff on. I don’t think your size has changed.”

He carried the armful of clothing into the bedroom but had no intention of trying them on while Andrew was still sleeping. But when he walked in the blond was sitting up in bed, looking down at his phone. Neil dumped the pile onto the end of the bed and Andrew dropped his phone, head tilting to the side in question. As Neil pulled each item out one by one, he realized the tags were labeled with an ‘A’ or an ‘N’ and assumed she’d given him stuff for Andrew as well. He tossed what looked like a pair of board shorts at Andrew. 

“What the fuck is this?”

“An emu,” answered Neil. 

Andrew scowled and unraveled the item, holding it aloft. The swim trunks were all black with a sort of carbon colored, wavy stripe up the side, inlaid with burnt orange piping. It had two deep pockets on each side. Neil dug through the pile and realized there was a second, similar pair for him but the base was gray with a black strip and the same orange piping. He also pulled out two matching, rash-guard type tops that were made of something stretchy. 

Neil distributed the rest of the clothes and Andrew took them without complaint. Unlike the designer clothes Allison had sent them the year prior, which Andrew had threatened to burn, these seemed much more practical. There were even two new pairs of running shorts for Neil, one orange, one gray, both with little  FoxFyre paw logos near the outside seam. 

Half an hour later they were both showered and dressed in regular clothes and Allison frowned at them. Matt, Dan and Renee were all standing in the living room in various styles of clothing that obviously were from Allison’s collection. He assumed Nicky was still asleep – probably jet-lagged. 

The living room almost seemed like a runway show, Allison was making them turn and walk, surveying her work on the bodies of her friends. She admonished the two of them for not trying theirs on but otherwise let it go. They would probably have plenty of opportunities to wear them this week. 

Later that evening, the girls, along with Matt and Nicky, were all climbing into the hot tub on the porch, all in their new swimwear. The girls were wearing matching, white bikinis with little fox paws on the hip and Matt mock bowed while Dan  flexed and Allison flipped her hair over her shoulder to strike an obnoxious pose. Neil didn’t see how it could be comfortable, it was still hot outside and the last thing he wanted was to climb into a people-sized vat of boiling water. Instead he sifted through the swimwear, casting it aside and plucked one of the smaller items from the pile. He changed into his new running shorts and a t-shirt, forgoing his armbands since it was dark out. 

He ran for an hour along the wooded trails near the cabin and then along the hard earth around the lake that separated the tree line from the sandy shore. When he returned, he was drenched in sweat and grimaced at sound of laughter drifting down from the porch. Somehow, they were still in the hot tub. He idly wondered if one of them would end up passing out.

Neil kicked off his shoes on the porch and grabbed the towel he’d left on the railing, wiping sweat from his neck and shoving it up his shirt to wipe down his chest and back. 

He paused near Andrew in the living room, who was draped in all black and curled into an armchair – in the same position he’d been in when Neil had left. He had a novel in his hand and his eyes flicked up when Neil moved closer. They narrowed slightly, dropping down to the new shorts and Neil smirked. 

“Staring.”

The novel snapped closed and dropped to the floor. Andrew stood and looked past Neil, listening for any sign of their friends but their voices were muffled through the glass and they were still outside. 

Dropping his hand with the towel, Neil’s shirt stayed hiked up over his hip, revealing tanned, sweat-slicked skin and the faint, white lines of old scars. But it wasn’t the scars Andrew was looking at. He took a step forward to examine the shorts, reaching down to tuck two fingers into the waistband. He pulled the elastic away from Neil’s skip and let go. Neil sucked in a breath when it snapped against his skin. Finally, Andrew met his eyes, the ring of hazel diminished around blown pupils. 

“At least Reynolds is good for something.”

Neil grinned and let Andrew pull him towards the bedroom. Maybe a fashion show was in order after all. 


	3. Beach Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day three prompt - beach day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun times in the water. Are Neil and Andrew fighting or flirting? Who knows. 
> 
> ~*~
> 
> All credit to Nora, I own nothing.

Neil and Andrew were barely finished with the dishes from the pancake breakfast they’d made when Matt rounded the island and lifted Neil by the middle shouting “Beach party!”

Neil laughed and swatted at Matt, who dropped him to ruffle his curls, still damp from the shower.

“It’s a lake not a beach,” Neil corrected. 

Matt, who was already wearing his new board shorts (and nothing else), reached around to open the refrigerator to snag a few sports drinks. “There’s sand, there’s water...it’s a beach.”

An hour later it was hard to argue. The Foxes had all donned their swimwear, even Andrew was present in his board shorts and the black spandex shirt stretched across his chest. They hauled a cooler down to the beach and laid out towels in the sand. The sun was still low enough in the sky that the trees provided a little shade, but it wouldn’t be that way for long. Allison opted to carry a folding chair down the dock so she could be in direct light. She looked more like a supermodel than someone lounging at a secluded lake, complete with a bikini (pink this time), over-sized sunglasses, a large floppy, white hat, and perfectly manicured nails. As she settled into her  chair, she set her phone on a small docking station and energetic pop music began drifting down the pier. 

Seconds after she leaned back in the chair, Matt and Nicky came sprinting down the dock so fast that her hat fluttered as they passed her, settling once more as they both canon-balled into the dark water.  Luckily, she was far enough away that the spray of lake-water didn’t hit her, otherwise Neil suspected their ‘beach day’ might be cut short due to them being drowned. 

Andrew flopped down in his own chair towards the edge of the sand that was still shaded, pulling a book out of the bag he’d forced Neil to haul down with them. Neil followed Dan to the waterline and let the small waves lap at his ankles. She encouraged him to follow her until the lake swallowed them to their necks. The water was cooler than he expected and he bounced a little to keep warm. 

“I’m glad you came...” he said suddenly, not really meaning to have spoken. “You and Matt, to graduation. It meant a lot.”

Dan gave him a knowing smile. She’d heard all about his little breakdown on the court, Andrew having to physically pry him away from polished floors and protective enclosure of the  plexi -glass walls. 

“It was home for me too, you know,” she said. “It still is. And it will always be there to go back to.  Wymack will make sure of it.”

Neil tried to give her a little half-hearted  smile but the curve of his lips only made it about halfway. He knew it would always be home. But despite having spent so much time on the run, fitting in seamlessly and  unobtrusively wherever he went, moving on to a new city and a new team, especially alone was still terrifying. 

His former captain reached forward and tangled her hand in his hair, clearly reading the look on his face like he was an open book. “None of that, kid. We’re on vacation. You’ve got plenty of time to worry about the big move in a few weeks.”

She pulled him into a short hug and when he let go, they noticed Renee wading out to them. She had been standing near the shore talking to Andrew, who stood at the edge of the water with her. Neil watched Andrew stick his toes in the water a scowl, heading back to his chair and Neil felt a little settled again. He smiled and dipped his head into the water before anyone could notice and greeted Renee. 

“ So, what are we up to?” she asked. 

“ Oh, you know, just  talkin ’ about life,” answered Dan. 

Renee smiled. “It’s good sometimes, isn’t it?”

* * *

Later in the afternoon the group dug pre-made sandwiches and pasta salad from the cooler, along with some sort of fruity tasting beer that Neil wrinkled his nose at. It was far too  carbonated, and he immediately reached for water instead. 

At some point Andrew had peeled off his shirt and slathered himself in sunscreen. He still hadn’t gotten in the water but looked more relaxed than he had in the morning. There were a few houses scattered around the little  cove but they were all far enough away that their occupants couldn’t see each other in  great detail . Neil assumed that’s why they had picked the location. None of them, well other than Kevin maybe who still wouldn’t arrive for a few more days, were particularly famous. Andrew and Matt were both recognizable in the  Exy world and Allison was still somewhat famous given her status as a Reynolds, especially after having made a splash in the fashion world after graduation. But none of them really wanted to be photographed or have their private lives ruined with paparazzi. 

After they finished eating most of the Foxes migrated back to the lake. Even Allison had gotten in this time, though she was floating on a rather obnoxiously large swan shaped float. Renee had her arms curled over the side and was navigating her around the placid water whenever the wind would start to blow her away from the others. 

Neil stayed behind to wait for Andrew to finish his third beer (which he had  definitely called ‘bitch beer ’ earlier in the day before proceeding to drink  _ three _ of them). Neil gave him an amused look as he crinkled the can, tossing it into the plastic trash bag they’d brought along. 

“It’s hot,” said Andrew, flatly. 

“Uh huh,” Neil smirked. “You know swimming is a pretty good way to cool down.”

Andrew paused to think about it before flopping back in his chair. “No.”

Shrugging one shoulder, Neil pulled off his own top. “Suit yourself.”

He was still self-conscious about his scars in front of strangers, though after the Foxes had signed a freshman with significant burn scars Neil had begun changing out with the others in solidarity. And besides, there were no strangers here, just his family. He really doubted the family across the cove with their four shrieking children was sitting there with a telephoto lens waiting to make him the cover boy of the newest gossip rag. 

“Get back here idiot,” said Andrew, standing again to stop Neil from heading to the dock. 

The striker paused, turning with his head tilted to the side. His eyes caught sight of what was in Andrew’s hand and he sighed. He hated the greasy feel of sunscreen. What he didn’t hate was the feel of Andrew’s hands running over his bare skin so he let the blond massage the white lotion over his chest and arms without complaint. 

“Not all of us burn at the mere mention of the sun,” he teased. “Some of us don’t have the complexion of ghosts.”

Andrew stopped rubbing for a moment, glared, and then pushed hard on Neil’s shoulder to turn him around, attacking his back with the stuff. “And some of us, the universe hates more than others, and I won’t having you dying of skin cancer before you’re thirty.”

Neil continued to stand there, arms held in a t-pose and smirked, turning his head to the side so Andrew would see it. “Aw. That might be the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

The cap clicked on the sunscreen and Andrew’s hands disappeared for a moment before one shot around and clamped around Neil’s neck, pulling him back so he smacked against Andrew’s chest. 

“If you die before thirty,” he clarified, growling the words into Neil’s ear. “It will be because I end up killing you.” 

Neil let out an involuntary shiver and didn’t miss the way Andrew’s breath hitched a second before he let go. 

“That’s more familiar...” he laughed. 

An hour later they were still all in the water. Nicky kept trying to climb onto the float with Allison and finally flipped the whole thing in his efforts. Drenched, she tossed her sunglasses and hat in the water, not seeming to care if they sank to the bottom and starting swimming for Nicky. Neil could hear the other Foxes trying to bet on  whether Nicky could out-swim her, but it seemed no one doubted Allison’s penchant for vengeance. The pair were almost out of earshot, Dan, Matt and Renee egging them on, when Neil turned to notice Andrew standing at the edge of the dock. He was still shirtless, his pale skin glistening from sweat and sunscreen. Neil swam over and tread water below. 

“Finally decide to join us?” he asked. 

“Just making sure Reynolds doesn’t drown my moronic cousin. I would prefer my vacation not be  interrupted by a criminal investigation.”

Neil looked back, Allison had finally caught Nicky and was dunking him repeatedly while he sputtered and laughed in the middle of the cove. When he looked back Andrew was watching them too. Without giving himself time to think about the consequences, Neil reached up and grabbed Andrew’s ankle. He yanked, hard, and caught the small look of surprise on Andrew’s face before he toppled sideways into the lake. 

The blond surfaced a moment later, spitting water and snapping his head to the side to flip wet bangs out of his eyes. 

“I am going to murder you.”

“Guess you’ll have to catch me first?” cackled Neil. 

Andrew seemed to take the challenge seriously and began sprinting after Neil who swam around the other side of the platform. Their teammates seemed to have caught on to their antics and were cheering now, Nicky and Allison both distracted from each other and whooping for Neil. 

Neil swam closer to the dock again and ducked under the wooden planks. It was raised about a foot from the water level and he could feel large fish bumping his feet  occasionally . Andrew followed him under but hissed and recoiled a little when he noticed the fish. 

“The fuck was that?” he asked, looking down into the murky water, even more obscured by the shade under the dock. 

“Maybe it’s the loch ness monster.”

Andrew flatted his lips and held on to the beam to keep himself afloat, eyes flat and annoyed but Neil could still sense the amusement behind the cold stare. 

“I will cut out your tongue, Neil.”

“No, you won’t,” he said, bobbing forward to drape his forearms over Andrew’s shoulder. He grinned cheekily. “You like it too much.”

“Shut up,” countered Andrew, his free hand going to Neil’s waist and squeezing. 

But Neil wasn’t fooled. He smiled. “Make me.”

So, Andrew did.


	4. Outdoor Sports

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day four prompt - Outdoor sports

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Foxes play something other than Exy.
> 
> ~*~
> 
> All credit to Nora, I own nothing.

When Dan and Neil arrived back to the cabin from their morning hike Wednesday, it was  to loud crashing sounds coming from under the wooden structure. The cabin itself sat upon heavy stilts and underneath there was a concrete drive for two vehicles, the outdoor shower, and some sort of shed. It had been locked when they arrived but now the door was wide  open and Matt and Allison were rummaging through the contents of the small room. 

“Uh...guys?” Dan tilted to the side to get a better look and another crashing sound came. 

The pair of Foxes  startled and Allison whipped around. “Good morning my little outdoor enthusiasts. How was your hike?”

Neil shrugged. 

Dan smiled brightly and lifted her wrist to her forehead to wipe sweat from the side of her neck. “It was good...how’s breaking and entering going?”

Allison rolled her eyes and turned back to hand something to Matt, who was still slightly hunched over some sort of trunk inside. “It’s not ....breaking ....they were supposed to leave the key for the  door but we couldn’t find it. Andrew picked the locked for us.”

Neil glanced down at his watch and realized it was just a little after nine. Andrew usually wasn’t up this early if he had other options and wondered what had pulled him from bed. Certainly no one had been  brave enough to wake him up just for his lock-picking skills. 

“I’m  gonna go rinse off,” said Neil. “Happy...pillaging, or whatever.”

Dan moved closer to inspect what they were looking at and Neil took the steps two at a time, kicking off his shoes on the porch before entering the cool air of the cabin. His senses were immediately assaulted with the sweet smell of sugar and  spices so he detoured towards the kitchen. Andrew and Renee were perched at the counter chatting with Nicky. All had empty plates sitting in front of them. Neil’s eyes jumped around from dish to dish and he no longer wondered why Andrew was up so early. There were two rectangular baking dishes sitting on the stove top. One was empty but the other still held a few cinnamon rolls, shining with brown sugar and heaps of translucent icing. There was also a plate with a few pieces of bacon left and a bowl of cut melon on the counter. 

“Hello Neil, good hike?” asked Renee. 

“Mmm....who cooked?” he asked. 

Andrew still had a fork in his hand and was scraping the last remnants of icing from his plate, sucking it off the utensil as he eyed Neil with a bored stare. 

“Renee and I did. We used one of Stephanie's recipes. Here,” he said, turning to grab a small plate from the counter behind him. It held a single cinnamon roll. “Andrew said to save you one without all the icing.”

“Thanks...” he said, to no one in particular, and pulled the plate towards him. 

After adding a few pieces of bacon and fruit, he pulled a fork  from the drawer and hopped on the stool next to Andrew, who was helping himself to one last breakfast confection. 

They ate in silence, listening to Nicky and Renee speculate about what they would do that day. After covering the dishes in plastic and pushing them to the center of the counter, Renee wiped down the marble and tossed the rag in the sink. 

“Where’s Dan?” asked Nicky, drumming his fingers on the countertop. 

Swallowing a bite of food, Neil washed it down with water from his bottle before answering. “Outside with Matt and  Allison I think. They’re digging through the shed under the house.”

“Oh! I wonder what they found,” Nicky speculated. “A collection of old porn magizines?”

“Maybe buried treasure...” supplied Renee. 

“ ....Maybe some dead bodies....” Andrew muttered around his fork. 

Nicky clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes. “Aren’t you supposed to be less pessimistic after you’ve eaten?”

“Less homicidal maybe,” Neil added casually. “Andrew’s pessimism is 24-7.”

Renee hid a smile and Nicky rolled his eyes again, snagging her elbow. “Well let’s go see who’s right and let these grouchy children absorb their calories so they’re not so hangry.”

Neil huffed and waved as they left, Andrew ate the last few bites of his bun. 

When they were finished, Neil took the plates to the sink and rinsed them off, stowing them in the dishwasher. He felt pleasantly cool, but his skin was still tacky from their three-mile hike. Before heading to the  shower, he paused next to Andrew who had pulled Renee’s crossword book across the island and was studying the half-completed puzzle. 

“Anything you want to do today?” he asked, leaning against the edge of the counter. 

Andrew response was automatic. “Nothing.”

Neil grinned and leaned in until only a few inches separated them. “Yea?”

Hazel eyes flicked up and Andrew turned his head just enough so Neil could register his glare. 

“Narcissist.”

Neil’s brows knitted. Maybe he was in a mood. “Huh?”

“Seven down. A person who has an exaggerated sense of self-importance.”

Blue eyes flicked down to the page and then back to Andrew. He smirked. “Rude. We both know I’m more of an exhibitionist. Narcissism is boring unless you can use it to piss someone off.”

Andrew finally turned his head to the side, locking eyes with Neil. He reached out and yanked on the damp hem of Neil’s shirt and didn’t bother to hide the slight uptick to the corner of his mouth. 

“Go shower. You smell like sweat and nature.”

Neil huffed a laugh and then leaned in. Instead of kissing Andrew he grabbed his chin between tan, scarred fingers and tilted his head enough to lick the small smear of icing left on the corner of his mouth.    
  
“And you taste like a cavity waiting to happy,” said Neil. 

He let go and took pride in the momentary flash of surprise in Andrew’s eyes before he schooled his expression and let those eyes burn a hole in his back as he marched towards the bedroom. 

* * *

After lunch, Andrew and Neil joined the rest of the Foxes outside as they gathered around the picnic tables in the yard. Their spoils from the mornings ransacking of the shed seemed to have proved fruitful. Along with several additional floats, a charcoal grill, and about a dozen large water guns, they found a badminton set that seemed brand new and still in the box. 

“We should play today while the weather is cooler. I hear it’s  gonna be hot again tomorrow,” suggested Matt. 

It was true. The weather was much cooler than it had been since they arrived. Dan looked around at the lot of them. “We could...but the teams would be uneven. Maybe we should wait until Kevin gets here on  Monday? ”

“Ugh...no way,” groaned Allison. “You know how Day gets about literally anything competitive. We’ll be throwing punches five minutes in. Have you forgotten what happened the last time we all played monopoly?”

“.....I mean he’s engaged now and everything. Maybe Thea straightened him out. Maybe he’s gotten better with age,” offered Nicky. 

Neil choked out a laugh. “He most definitely has  _ not _ . When he came by over Christmas break he lectured us on our Jenga strategy until Andrew ended up knocking the whole thing over.”

Andrew hummed in agreement and picked up one of the water guns, examining the brightly colored plastic and trigger mechanism. “You play. I’ll ref. I have  no interest in being sweaty and covered in sand.”

The group exchanged shrugs and agreed. The next thing Neil knew they were spread out across the sandy beach, separated by a long net and holding flimsy, colorful racquets in their hands. Neil twirled his experimentally but got distracted by the sound of Andrew cracking open a beer from the sidelines. He was perched in his chair again, wearing black basketball shorts and a black tank top. His armbands were missing  again and he looked relaxed. Neil was glad. The last year had been particularly stressful, what with Andrew being away in a new city, playing for a new team. Besides being apart, they both had to cope with strangers – Andrew with his teammates and Neil with an influx of freshman. He still held out hope that he would be able to sign with the same team as Andrew one day, but at least only a six hour drive would stand between them and they agreed to meet in Columbia whenever they could since it was just half the distance for both of them.

“Neil!” 

Matt’s voice snapped his attention back to the present and he gave the racquet one last swing. “ So uh...how does this work, exactly?”

“You don’t know how to play badminton?” scoffed Allison. 

Neil shrugged. “I get the general idea...but what are the rules?”

“Who cares!” laughed Nicky, bouncing the birdie on his own racquet as if to see how long he could keep it up before he dropped it. “You just hit it back and forth and whoever drops it the least wins!”

For the first game they played the girls versus the boys. Matt and Nicky both had the advantage of being  taller but the girls were more agile in the sand and it seemed like a fair fight. Andrew only half paid attention and after he failed to call the third point for Neil’s side, Neil chucked the birdie at him in retaliation. He kept it and they were forced to dig another one out of the box. After that, Andrew paid attention but proceeded to come up with progressively ridiculous rules. 

“If you touch the net you have to take a foul and serve to your team from the water before continuing play...” said Andrew, opening a second beer. 

They entertained him at first but his 'rules' were quickly becoming unreasonable. 

"If you go out of bounds you have to play on one leg for the next two minutes."

They stopped playing along after called a foul for ‘incessant bitching’ and insisted they all had to play with their left hands for the rest of the game. 

The first two games ended with a tie. As they dug through the cooler during a short break, Dan suggested switching up the teams. Neil flopped down on the sand next to Andrew and chugged half a sports drink. When he lifted the hem of his t-shirt to wipe sweat from his head, he could tell Andrew was eyeing him through his sunglasses. Neil smiled and poked at Andrew’s abs through his shirt, earning a grunt and a glare. 

“If you don’t get in some exercise you’re gonna go back to Atlanta soft around the middle,” Neil teased. 

“I have been getting plenty of exercise before I go to bed,” he said bluntly. 

Neil’s ears went pink and he returned his focus to his neon green drink, chugging it  nosily . 

“Let’s go losers!” Allison shouted from behind the net. 

Neil pushed himself up to join them and this time they split – Allison, Neil and Renee on one side with Matt, Nicky and Dan on the other. Despite the others height advantage, since Neil’s team were the shortest, they managed to hold their own. Neil even managed a rather impressive dive, flicking the little ball into the air only inches before it hit the ground. He brushed himself off and stayed focused on the game. The birdie soared to the other side of the net and was nearly out of bounds...not that Andrew was paying attention to call it, now buried in a novel. Nicky reached and took a wild swing, causing the colorful ball to  fly through the air high enough that Neil had to squint against the sun to see its trajectory. Renee was the closest and went after it but tripped on a branch, having chased it off the beach and onto the dirt. She managed to flick the birdie away but went down hard on her shoulder. The team jogged over to make sure she was okay. Renee massaged her shoulder and wiped away a small smear of blood where a stick had scratched her arm but otherwise declared herself okay. 

“I might sit this round out though, just to be sure,” she said. 

“We could probably find something else to do,” said Dan, not unkindly. 

“Nonsense! Andrew can take my spot, right Andrew?” she turned and smiled sweetly down at the goalkeeper who was doing a poor job of pretending not to pay attention a few yards away. 

His book was perched on his knees but he had been glancing over his sunglasses at them. 

Instead of kicking up a fuss, Andrew stood and stretched his arms over his head, holding out his hand for her racquet. She smiled again and wandered towards his seat and he rolled his eyes at Neil’s enthusiastic expression as he wandered over. 

“Shut up, Junkie,” he muttered, taking his place at behind Neil and Allison. 

Neil smirked and picked up the birdie, getting into position. He didn’t care if they won so long as he could have Andrew at his back again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for any mistakes. As usual my work isn't beta-ed but also I'm in my last week of classes for this quarter so I'm short on time so I haven't been doing as many read through's before posting like I normally do.


	5. Sun Lotion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day Five prompt - Sun lotion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Neil rubs the lotion on his skin or else he gets the lake again. >=D
> 
> ~*~
> 
> All credit to Nora, I own nothing.

It was hot again, which meant another lake trip was probably in order. Andrew had spent a good portion of his morning skyping with Aaron, who had just finished his finals for his first year in medical school. The  twins relationship was still a little rocky, but they had come to an understanding their last years at PSU. Andrew even allowed Katelyn to spend New  Years with them in Columbia during the twin's last year and occasionally acknowledged her existence, even if he still referred to her as ‘the cheerleader.’ 

Neil still remembered the call he’d gotten earlier that year from Aaron, who called to chew him out for paying off his loan for medical school. Aaron knew that Neil had bankrolled a few of Nicky and Erik's trips back and forth over the years and had purchased the Maserati. Most of the team had caught on that Neil had a hidden stash of blood money somewhere, even though they never talked about it. He was shocked Aaron had automatically assumed he had been the one to pay for his school since they had never learned to get along very well. 

‘ _ If you want to bitch at someone for doing something nice for you then you need to be calling Andrew, not me.’ Neil rolled his eyes even though Aaron wouldn’t see it through the phone. ‘I know you guys think I’m loaded but I’m not a millionaire. You know who is?’ _

_ Andrew had signed a contract for 2.7 million with the Atlanta Bobcats. Neil’s own contract was for 2.3 million with the Blacksburg Bandits but his contract wasn’t actually in effect until June and the Moriyamas would be getting most of it. _

_ “Oh....I....” Aaron had  _ _ sputtered _ _ and Neil resisted the urge to tell him what an idiot he was.  _

After Aaron’s trial, a lot of information had come to light that finally made Aaron realize how much Andrew had done to protect him. The fact that he still didn’t grasp his brother’s constant drive to take care of his family still flummoxed Neil. But old habits  died hard, he guessed. He hung up on the man and let him work it out for himself.

“That Aaron? Let me see!” Nicky tried to sneak around and get into the videos  frame but Andrew turned out of view. 

“He will be here in two days. Now go bother Renee...”

“AARON I MISS YOU TELL KATELYN I LOVE HER!” shouted Nicky, despite being only a few feet away from the mic. 

Andrew glared at him and he went running off to find the others. After the call ended, Neil tipped his neck towards the laptop. “Two days? I thought he wasn’t going to be able to come until next week.”

“They let him take his exams early so he changed his flight to Sunday.”

Neil hummed and went to the bedroom to change into his swim trunks. The others were already in the water by the time they reached the lake. Nicky barreled in without any pretense and gracelessly flopped face-first in the water once the resistance became too great for his momentum. Neil let Andrew slather him in sunscreen again and then waited a few minutes before diving off the platform. 

The former Foxes spent their day splashing around in the lake, trying to flip each other on the floats and racing each other across the cove. Matt had recovered a boogie board from the  shed and they all took turns jumping on it from the dock to see who  could ‘surf’ the longest before they tipped into the water. 

The sun continued to move overhead and after Dan and Matt beat Allison and Renee at several rounds of ‘chicken,’ Allison began to complain about her shoulders starting to burn. They returned to the shore for sandwiches and to reapply sunscreen. Allison wrapped herself in some sort of slinky, white robe and retired to the dock to read a magazine under the little umbrella attached to her chair. The rest of the Foxes wandered back towards the water and this time Andrew stood to join them. 

“You’re coming?” asked Neil, watching the goalkeeper pull off the flimsy, long-sleeved cotton shirt he’d been wearing. 

Andrew snatched off his sunglasses and tossed them onto the chair, snagging the bottle of sunscreen from the sand and popping the cap. He squeezed a generous portion into his palm and slapped it to his chest before Neil stepped forward, holding one hand up near the splatter of lotion and another down near the bottle. 

“Andrew.....yes or no?”

A blond eyebrow lifted in amusement and Andrew lilted sideways a little to survey the others. He straightened and slowly pushed the bottle into Neil’s open palm. “Yes.”

Neil grinned and squeezed a little on his own hands before tucking the bottle in his open  pocket so he’d be able to set both hands to his task. He smeared the sunscreen over Andrew’s toned chest, rubbing it in until it left behind a glistening sheen instead of chalky white. Andrews breath hitched when Neil's thumbs grazed over hard nipples and the tiny reaction was enough for Neil to do it again. Andrew’s eyes narrowed and Neil shrugged innocently, moving on to slick up his sides. He added more lotion and massaged Andrew’s arms between his, taking his time on each one and digging his fingers into tight muscle. Andrew watched him with a placid expression and said nothing. But when Neil asked him to turn  around he instead turned and dropped down onto Neil’s towel that had been laid out beside the chair. Knees first and then his palms, Andrew lowered himself until he was  laying flat on his stomach with his cheek pressed against the back of his hands. 

“Um...even if you’re not  swimming I wasn’t done...” said Neil, confused. 

“If I am already getting a massage out of  this, you’re not going to half-ass it, Josten. Get down here.”

Neil huffed a laugh and shook his head. He dropped to his knees and started to bend over but then thought better of it. He lifted a leg and straddled Andrew’s thighs, sinking down slowly so Andrew could get used to the pressure. The blond tensed for a moment but then relaxed again. He still wasn’t a fan of people behind him and they still asked ‘yes or no’ when moving to new territory....not that there was much left to cover these days. But Neil kept the pressure light and didn’t sink down with all his weight. 

He leaned forward and squeezed a line of lotion along Andrew’s spine and the blond hissed at the coldness. But Neil wasted no time warming him up, running his hands along the unmarred skin of Andrew’s back. He was pale and had a few freckles. There were a few small scars, one at the top of his shoulder blade and another near his hip, but otherwise the skin was smooth beneath his fingers. He’d done this before, a few times after a hard game. Just never with sunblock and never in the open like this. Neil peeked back and was relieved to see his old teammates were still ignoring them. 

When he dug his thumbs into Andrew’s left shoulder the man let out a quiet noise that sounded suspiciously like a moan. Neil bit his lip between his teeth to keep from remarking. As he slid lower, he moved to massage Andrew’s hips and then sat lower on his calves to attack his thighs. He didn’t apply sunscreen there but massaged the muscle underneath anyways. He climbed off momentarily to put sunscreen on Andrew's lower legs before sitting back on top of him, his fingertips gliding back up Andrew’s sides and down until he shuddered. Neil’s heart quickened and he knew he wasn’t touching with purpose anymore...at least not with the intended purpose. Now he was just touching to touch and knew he’d have to back away soon before it became inappropriate for public. 

Andrew must have realized it too because he shifted underneath Neil, and when Neil pushed up on his knees, Andrew rolled over and sat  up so they were chest to chest. He looked up at Neil with a challenge in his eyes and Neil smiled down at him, ready to meet that challenge. Their lips met first and then one of Neil’s hands slipped behind Andrew’s neck. Andrew’s fingers burned at Neil’s hips and pulled him  down so he was fully settled in Andrew’s lap. They kissed for minutes, or maybe hours. But by the time they were breaking apart it was to the sound of water sleuthing off their teammates who were emerging from the lake and their own heavy breathing. 

Matt wolf whistled and Nicky cooed something obnoxious. Dan  shouted ‘ _ Get a room _ !’ and laughed as they untangled from each other. 

Luckily, the heat still simmered below the surface so no embarrassing adjustments were needed as they turned to face their friends. Andrew stared, blank-faced and unperturbed at being caught while Neil could feel the heat creep in his cheeks. Nicky must have noticed because he waggled a finger in Neil’s direction. 

“Looks like someone needs a cold shower,” he joked. 

Neil opened his mouth to admonish  Nicky but the words caught in his throat as Andrew literally swept him off his feet. He carried Neil, bridal style, towards the water despite Neil’s complaints and hands flapping to try and get the blond to release him. Once Andrew was up to his thighs, he tossed Neil in the lake. He came up sputtering and scowling in order to fight the grin he knew wanted to take over. Andrew still wore an impassive expression, but his eyes were alight with amusement. Neil started to stand and reached for his goalkeeper but Andrew dove into the lake and resurfaced a good ten feet away. Neil chased after him, but he didn’t think all the cold showers in the world would do him any good when he was on fire. 


	6. Picnic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day six prompt - Picnic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Neil is SOFT and loves his Foxes. <3
> 
> ~*~
> 
> All credit to Nora, I own nothing.

“Is there a reason you guys have been cooking for the last three hours and our island looks ready to host a White House garden party?” asked Dan, eyeing the colorful finger foods on the counter. 

Renee pulled another tray from the oven while Nicky arranged tea sandwiches in a circular shape on a clear, plastic platter. 

“We’re having a picnic, remember?” he asked. 

Dan’s eyebrows shot up towards her forehead. “Uh...yea. A picnic means like...we eat food outside. It doesn’t mean you have to dress it up like we’re feeding a bunch of pretentious white people.”

Allison was examining a few white linens on the kitchen table  nearby but her head snapped up at the comment. “Excuse you...some of us  _ are _ pretentious white people.”

“You’re half Palestinian....” smirked Dan. 

“Fine....raised by pretentious white people. Whatever...the white half wanted a  pinterest picnic and you’re honestly just lucky Renee talked me out of having it catered.”

Dan rolled her eyes but leaned on the counter, snagging a cucumber sandwich. Nicky huffed and re-arranged the plate only for Matt, Neil and Andrew to walk by a few seconds later and do the exact same thing. 

“Ugh! You assholes, now I have to start over again...” tsked Nicky. 

Matt waggled a hand over the food and Allison slapped it away as he went for some sort of oven-baked potato chip. “Hands off, Boyd! These are for lunch. Everybody out so we can finish.”

They grumbled about being starving but wandered into the living room. It had rained overnight and cooled the temperatures a  little but it would be hot again by mid-day. Since the kitchen had been taken over when most of them  woke they’d either not eaten breakfast or  made due with a bowl of cereal so now that it was  noon they were all famished. 

At 12:12 Allison announced they were finished and corralled the team to have them help set the table outside. Neil assumed she meant the picnic table, but when he carried the linens  down he spotted an eight-foot long white table set up under a shaded portion of the yard with eight chairs spaced around it. He guessed it had come out of the shed because there was no way Allison had just flown with random foldable furniture. She hadn’t...right?

It took a little work, getting everything to fit so that there was still room for everyone to eat at the table, filling their little sage-green plates with various foods. He was glad to see so many fruit and vegetable options and even happier to notice that only  _ half  _ of Andrew’s plate was filled with desserts. 

Their little picnic passed uneventfully, except for a minor incident with a squirrel when Nicky dropped a piece of food on the ground and the furry creature had nearly run up his leg with it. Matt caught the table before it flipped and too many of the platters were jostled and Nicky declared he just lost about a year of his life. Neil had laughed unabashedly and even Andrew’s smirk looked more like a smile. 

After they were all full, there was still plenty of food left that Neil assumed they would be having for dinner or lunch the next day, they sat around and fanned themselves, leaning back in their chairs. It was getting warmer  out but it wasn’t  unbearable . They’d talked about going to the lake after they cleaned  up but no one seemed to want to move just yet. Neil's eyes hopped from Fox to Fox. Matt had an arm around Dan’s chair and was leaned towards her, talking quietly while she held a private smile on her face, reserved only for the words he was whispering. Allison and Renee were locked in conversation as well, arms on the table and heads tipped towards each other, talking about various career progress. Nicky was even talking to Andrew, telling him something amusing that happened to Erik at work a few weeks ago and Andrew, for once, was listening intently, even if he wasn’t offering any feedback of his own. 

“I wish....” he hadn’t completed the  thought but he also hadn’t meant to say it  out loud . 

Andrew leaned back in his chair and the other conversations cut off, somehow all tuned in to Neil. Even after just a few quiet words. 

“You wish what, Neil?” asked Renee, cradling her jaw in her hand as she watched him. 

They were all looking now and he felt a little tinge of heat creep up his neck. 

“Nothing,” he muttered, swirling the remains of his unsweet tea in his glass. 

“C’mon buddy, what is it?” asked Matt. 

“Yea...you’ve got that look on your face,” said Allison, pointing a  manicured nail in his direction. 

“What look?” he said, wrinkling his nose to wipe off whatever expression they were talking about. 

“The one you used to get when would do  nice things for you and you always looked surprised about it,” added Nicky. 

Andrew leaned back again, folding his arms across his chest but the quirk of his eyebrow suggest he agreed with his cousin. 

“I don’t ....I just. I just wish we could always have this...you know? A place we can always come back and find each other.”

He was thoroughly  embarrassed by his own sentimentality and it  didn’t help that Dan stood, marched around the  table and wrapped her arm around his neck, cradling her cheek on his head. “My precious baby Fox ..... of course we will always find each other.”

Neil sighed heavily but allowed the hug, rolling his eyes. He  wasn’t sure why it embarrassed him. The Foxes all knew he considered them family and had fought tooth and nail over the years to keep them. It surprised none of them that he was feeling the sting of his potential move and the further distance between them, now that they had all graduated. 

They  seemed to take pity on him and changed the topic shortly after, discussing a potential trip to check out the surrounding area and pick up groceries the following day, since  they’d gone through quite a bit with their picnic. 

The Foxes stayed seated until the sun became too much to bear and then started to clean up. Neil was still in his thoughts as they all started to move and only Andrew’s hand squeezing his thigh brought him back to the present. He stood and started to gather his empty dishes, a lazy smile on his lips. Andrew just shook his head and reached out, brushing hair back from his temple. 

“Idiot....” he said softly, walking back towards the cabin. 

Neil smiled and followed his friends, knowing what Dan had told him was truer than almost anything else in the world. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My Allison HC is Gigi Hadid. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


	7. Roller Skates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day seven prompt - Roller Skates

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Neil tries something new, Andrew profits. 
> 
> ~*~
> 
> All credit to Nora, I own nothing.

There were two small towns nearby – one that lined the lake and another further inland. Today they decided to go to the closer of the two since their primary goal was just to replenish their food supply. Since they didn’t know what the parking situation would be, all seven Foxes climbed into Matt’s truck, Neil and Andrew sitting cross legged in the back. It was only a five-minute drive and Matt found a metered space along road. They could see the grocery store a couple blocks up and although it was barely 10am, the village was already bustling. The lake glittered behind buildings and they caught glimpses as they passed. They could hear the telltale sounds of boats and jet-skins launching from below and the occasional ring of  someone's bike bell as they flew by down the path that ran along the sidewalk. 

Matt stopped walking abruptly and Dan careened into the back of him. She shoved away with a swear but he was still planted in place, staring and pointing at the shop just past the grocery store. 

“Guys.....what do you think? We could kill an hour or so before we shop. Check out the town a little,” he said, turning with a grin. 

Neil leaned to the side to see past Matt’s taller frame where he was pointing at a colorful store with all kinds of bikes and scooters out front. A family with several children were sitting on a bench outside lacing up roller blades. 

“ Oh, hell yea,” agreed Allison. “I’m totally dressed for roller blading today.”

Dan quirked a brow, surveying her friend who was wearing cut off, acid wash shorts so tattered that the pockets peeked from under the ripped hems, a halter crop top with a significant portion of her tan midriff showing, and a small rose-gold bar with a dangly pink gem swinging from her navel.

“You’re dressed like you’re ready to be the victim in some 90’s teen slasher film,” teased Dan. 

Allison punched her in the arm and Dan swatted at her ponytail. 

Since most of the group seemed to want to check out the offerings of the bike shop, Neil and Andrew followed along. As he watched his friends pick out options – Matt and Dan chose brightly color bicycles, Nicky examined one of the scooters, and Allison and Renee were already strapping roller blades to their feet. Neil eyed the rows of skates. He’d ridden a bike plenty during his time on the run, usually out of necessity, but never had the opportunity to try something as frivolous as roller skating. 

“Neil.”

He turned to face Andrew who was  scrutinizing him with slightly narrowed eyes. 

“Andrew,” he shot back, though his smirk was only partial since the wheels in his brain were still spinning wildly. 

“You have that look,” said Andrew. 

Neil feigned ignorance though he was pretty sure he had an idea. “What look?”

“The look you get when you’re about to do something incredibly stupid.”

Then time Neil smiled and gestured towards the store employee, pointing at a pair of roller skates. “You know me too well.”

Andrew stared down at him as he laced up the skates, arms crossed and a sour look on his face. 

“I’m sure we won’t be long,” explained Neil, tugging the laces until they were tight and then wrapping them underneath the skate to tie them on the top like Allison had showed him. The others were just a few yards away, testing out the new equipment before they all set out on the bike path together. 

“Matt will probably even let you take the truck back if you don’t want to wait,” continued Neil. 

After he finished tying the  skates he sat on the bench looking up at Andrew, who was watching him with open disdain, drumming his nails along his armband covered forearms. Neil leaned back on his hands and rolled the back wheels of the skates along the pavement, smiling brightly up at Andrew.

Neil went to stand but Andrew huffed and shoved him back down, pointing a menacing finger in his face. “Stay.”

He tipped his face to the side and watched the blond stalk over to the teenager with the name-tag on his chest and gesture to another pair of skates. His harsh tone had gotten the attention of the other Foxes who were watching with open curiosity as Andrew marched back over to the bench wearing only his socks, a pair of skates in his own hand. Luckily no one had a death wish and dispersed immediately when he glared up at them. After flapping a hand at Neil to move over, he pulled on his own skates. Neil bit his lip and turned his head to the side to keep his smile hidden while the grumpy blond muttered swears in Russian beside him. He had the mind to tell Andrew that he didn’t have to do this, but it was pointless. Andrew never did anything unless he wanted to. 

Despite his silence, Andrew seemed to latch on to his thoughts and once he was finished with the skates he turned his glare towards Neil from under his dark sunglasses. “You’re a fucking disaster. Who knows what will happen if I don’t go with  you. ”

The words were scathing and  bitter but Neil still smiled. This happened sometimes ....Andrew using him as an excuse to try something new. And it went the other way too. It was how Neil had been introduced to rock concerts and paintball. They let the other prop them up when they felt unsteady on their feet. 

Neil turned over the metaphor in his head and quickly realize that might not work in this scenario because they were both  _ actually  _ unsteady on their feet. Andrew reached out and snagged the hem of Neil’s shirt as he wobbled a little, trying to find his footing. Neil waved at the group to go ahead and they followed at a snail’s pace. Nicky tried to roll behind them on his scooter, presumably to snap blackmail photos since he had his phone clutched in one hand, but Andrew glowered at him until he caught up with Allison and Renee. 

They agreed to meet back at the shop in an  hour so Matt and Dan went ahead. The bike path curved around a bend and broke off from the main street, shooting between a row of trees and then straightened out again along the lake. Only a short, wooden rail separated the concrete path from the sandy shore where families were laid out on towels and in beach chairs. 

Luckily the path itself wasn’t busy because even though they were  sturdier now, Neil – and especially Andrew, still tensed and had to balance themselves whenever someone else went whizzing past at a higher speed. 

When the path narrowed, Andrew pushed Neil ahead so they could make room for anyone who needed to pass, though Neil highly suspected that Andrew just wanted to stare at his ass. He had donned his running shorts again since he thought they were just making a quick trip to the store.  Sure enough when Neil glanced back, Andrew’s head was tipped slightly  downwards and his gaze firmly planted on the  strikers rear. Neil laughed and decided to try his luck skating backwards. He felt stable now and had watched Allison and Renee flip every which way as they weaved around each other and passing pedestrians. He took a deep breath and spun around. They were on a small incline heading towards the lowest point of the  trail so he didn’t have to do anything once he turned except stand upright, letting gravity pull him backwards. 

Andrew’s chin tilted upwards and Neil grinned at him. “Staring.”

Before Andrew had a chance to retort, his eyes blew wide under his glasses and he reached out, snagging Neil by the wrist. A small child had stopped behind Neil, looking down at the wheel of the scooter he was trying to propel down the hill. With a well-timed yank, Andrew pulled Neil aside, but Neil wasn’t expecting the movement and tripped over his own feet, toppling up the steep embankment. They rolled over each other just as the child got moving again, narrowly missing him as he pushed himself along to catch up with his parents a few yards ahead. When they stopped rolling, Andrew was half lying on top of Neil and they were both breathing heavily, willing their bodies to calm down after the boost of adrenaline. Andrew pushed up on his hands and looked down at Neil, cataloging every bit of him in lieu of asking if he was okay. 

Neil winced a little at first but then he started laughing, pushing himself up on his elbow. Andrew frowned down at him and sat up on his knees, scrutinizing the man. 

“I do not see how any of this is funny,” sniped Andrew, pulling bits of twigs and leaves from his clothing and hair. 

For some reason, this just made him laugh more and Neil dropped his head back against his shoulders and didn’t bother to stifle the sound.  The imagery of Andrew, still strapped into his yellow roller skates, with shrubbery stuck in his sweaty, blond hair couldn’t  _ not  _ be funny. In retaliation Andrew reached down and pressed two fingers to Neil’s shin and he stopped laughing abruptly to look down. A bruise was already  forming and he had a small cut on his leg that was bleeding just below where Andrew had touched. Neil smacked his hand away, still smiling. 

“It’s fine.”

Andrew rolled his eyes and flipped over so he could scoot back down the hill to the pavement, planting his feet once more. “Famous last words.”

They made it back to the shop about ten minutes late and the others were already waiting, having turned in their rentals. Neil swiped at the cut on his leg for the fifth time and it seemed to have finally stopped bleeding. Allison gestured at his dirty shirt as he approached. 

“He, predictably, almost killed himself,” offered Andrew.

Neil scowled at him but there was no heat behind it. “ Excuse me, but you’re the one who made us fall.”

“Only to keep you from breaking an  eight-year-old in half and making the morning news,” sighed Andrew. 

With a huff, Neil ignored the grins of his friends and went to turn in his skates. While they walked to the grocery  store he regaled them with a slightly less dramatic version of the spill they’d taken. Nicky lamented not following him so he could have gotten it on video. 

Despite the full cart of  food they purchased, the actual shopping didn’t take very long. They had already agreed to eat their  picnic leftovers and order pizza for dinner so they could watch Kevin’s final. 

Andrew complained about his feet hurting all the way back to the cabin and presumably that’s how, after their showers and lunch, Neil ended up on the couch with the goalkeepers feet in his lap, massaging muscles abused by the skates. His shin twinged but it wouldn’t be more than a bruise and scab by the next day.

The pre-game show was on, sportscasters reviewing old games and talking animatedly about the highlight reel playing behind them. Neil watched intently and Andrew leaned back on the couch, his arms  crossed and eyes closed as he nearly drifted off. Neil smiled fondly as Kevin appeared on screen with Thea, a recording of an old interview. As the others loudly placed bets on whose team would win the championships Neil counted down the hours until his friends arrived. Kevin and Aaron both grated on him more often than not, but they were still Foxes. They were still his family and he missed them. He tossed in his bet for Kevin’s team to win and Nicky whooped at his participation, waking a drowsy Andrew. Neil’s hands had gone momentarily still so Andrew nudged his ribs with his big toe. 

“I did not say you could stop,” he breathed, leaning he head back on the armrest again. 

“How long do I have to do this, exactly?” asked Neil with a smile. 

“How long did you drag me around that god forsaken town?”

Neil smiled and dug his thumb hard into Andrew’s in-step and said nothing about the contented sigh he made. 


	8. Barbecue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day eight prompt - Barbecue
> 
> Sorry I'm a day behind - gonna try and get both chapters up today!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaron arrives, Neil suffers a loss, Matt is a grill dad. 
> 
> ~*~
> 
> All credit to Nora, I own nothing.

“Doesn’t this seem ....I dunno....excessive?” asked Neil, staring down at the ungodly amount of meat laying on the counter. 

“Neil...my guy...you know I’m going to eat at least half of this by myself,” grinned Matt. 

“Fair enough.”

Neil stretched his arms over his head and then dropped them so he could grab his ankles one at a time, pulling them up behind him to stretch. He was about to head out for a run, having gotten a late start that morning, when he noticed Matt rubbing spices on at least six kinds of meat spread out over the kitchen island. Andrew had left fifteen minutes earlier to make the forty-minute drive to the airport. Aaron would be arriving any minute and Neil suspected he wanted the drive to not only calm down from the nightmare he’d had the night before, but also to prepare for seeing his twin for the first time in months. 

They were fewer now, the nightmares. For  both of them . But occasionally they still woke in the middle of the night, wide-eyed and panicked, the ghosts of their pasts clinging to them like the sweat covered sheets. Andrew had woken around 4 am this time and jolted so violently that it had woken Neil, who was a heavier sleeper out of the two. Instead of attempting to go back to sleep the two had ventured into the kitchen and made coffee. They waited out the sunrise with bitter drink and boring infomercials. At seven they took turns in the shower. Andrew pulled on his armbands when he dressed and Neil didn’t think it was just because he was going out to fetch Aaron later. Whatever he dreamed about had him wanting his knives, which he had hadn’t worn under his armbands since they’d arrived. 

After bidding goodbye to his teammates, Neil went for his run. He took the same path again, through the woods and down near the lake and back. It was after ten when he arrived back, in need of yet another shower. The meat was gone but a grill was situated on the front porch and now the girls and Nicky were cutting up vegetables and preparing side dishes. 

“Where did Matt go?” he asked, noticing the truck was missing. 

“Dummy forgot to get propane while we were at the store yesterday. I don’t know how he thought we were  gonna grill all this meat he insisted on getting without fuel for the grill,” said Dan. 

Neil nodded and checked his watch again. It was after ten and Andrew would be back soon. 

“I’m  gonna shower again. If Andrew shows up with a corpse in the shape of Aaron come get me I guess...” he joked. 

Allison  guffawed and Renee smiled coyly. They knew he was joking. The twins still had a boatload of  issues but they were far from the estranged frenemies they were in their first couple years at PSU. 

When he emerged fifteen minutes later, Andrew had returned. He was sitting at the bar with Aaron standing next to him. The younger Minyard (as Andrew sternly told Neil on several occasions despite neither of them  actually knowing the truth), was talking to the others about his flight. Nicky had situated himself next to Aaron and had an arm around his shoulder which the blond surprisingly hadn’t thrown off yet. 

“Aaron,” said Neil, nodding his head in greeting as he sidled up alongside Andrew. 

“Josten,” replied Aaron, sending a similar nod and an appraising look towards Neil. 

“Good flight?”

“Screaming toddler.”

“Damn.”

“Yea.”

There was a short silence as Dan watched the exchange with raised brows. Allison looked amused and rolled her eyes between them. 

“Riveting conversationalists, the both of you,” she joked, shoving another bell pepper chunk on a skewer. 

Neil rolled his eyes as well and slid onto the stool next to Andrew, who reached out  inconspicuously and curled a finger around one of his  back belt loops. He tugged once and Neil glanced sideways, noting the annoyed expression on Andrew’s face. He smiled in return, savoring the small joke between them. 

The rest of the morning passed easily, the Foxes chatting and catching up. Aaron talked a little about his first year in med school and the shitty apartment he shared with Katelyn. He ranted endlessly about his upstairs neighbors and one of his professors that he hated. The food was, apparently, for dinner so they snacked over lunch so they wouldn’t ruin their appetites. At one o’clock, Andrew yawned for the fifth time and moved towards the bedroom. When he didn’t reemerge after half an hour Neil went to check on him.    
  
Andrew was curled on his side, buried under the duvet with only a few tufts of hair poking out. Neil smiled softly at the scene in front of him and tried to close the door as quietly as possible. The blond stirred, always roused by even the smallest sounds. He pulled down the blankets to reveal his eyes and nose and shot a tired glare in Neil’s direction. 

After fiddling with the curtains for a minute or two, trying to  close up the last crack of light, he toed out of his socks and walked around to his side of the bed. He leaned onto the mattress with a knee. 

“Can I come in?” asked Neil, making sure he kept his face neutral in case Andrew said ‘no’. 

Sometimes nightmares left them feeling raw and exposed and contact, even innocent contact, was hard. 

After a moment Andrew nodded, reaching down to flip the blanket aside. Neil noticed he had changed back into his pajama pants and was bare from the waist up. 

Before he could climb in Andrew’s hand shot out and grabbed his wrist. At first Neil thought he changed his mind about allowing Neil to join him for his nap, but hazel eyes flicked down to the denim covering Neil’s thighs. He looked as though the garment personally offended him. 

“....lose the  jorts , Josten, or you can sleep on the floor.”

Neil huffed and rolled his eyes, dropping his shorts to the ground before hopping onto the bed, making sure it bounced unnecessarily. In truth he really could use a nap; but the way Andrew pulled him over, lips immediately locking onto his own like some sort of heat seeking missile and hands quickly shifting from his back to clamp over the flimsy boxer-briefs  covering his ass – he wasn’t sure sleep was  actually in the cards. 

* * *

Sometimes naps made him feel rested and renewed with energy. This was not one of those naps. Neil woke disoriented and groggy, checking the time to realize he’d been in bed for three hours. Asleep for at least half the time. He was still yawning and stumbling after he relieved himself in the attached bathroom, washing his  hands on autopilot. When he finally blinked  awake he realized Andrew was already gone and his clothes weren’t where he dropped them so he dug out a new pair of shorts from the dresser. 

The living room was empty so he followed the voices outside to the deck. His friends enthusiastic greeting made him wince a little, along with the bright sunlight, since he was still struggling to shake off sleep. He sniffed the air and furrowed his brows in confusion at the open grill that Matt was currently cleaning.    
  
“....did you already start grilling?” he asked, wondering where the smoke smell was coming from. 

Aaron, for some reason, snorted a laugh from his seat on the porch. 

“Not exactly,” he said, taking a sip of the beer in his hand. 

Deciding Aaron was of no help, he looked to the others for clarification. They all looked amused but also slightly guilty and finally Nicky pointed towards the yard. 

“I told him you’d be mad but uh...well, I didn’t want to get stabbed so...” Nicky waved again towards the lake. 

Neil walked towards the railing and leaned over. 

“He’s doing us all a favor really...” smirked Allison. 

Andrew was standing over the fire pit where a small flame was settled between the ring of stone. He had a beer in his hand and must have felt the weight of Neil’s stare since he was out of earshot. He turned, locked eyes with Neil, and gave him a two-fingered salute. 

Neil marched down the steps to investigate only to find his denim shorts in the fire, a small can of lighter fluid next to it. For a few moments he just stared before rounding on Andrew, arms waving in accusation. 

“You asshole! I can’t believe you  actually did it!”

Sure, Andrew had threatened to set them on fire a good ....two dozen times over the years. Usually they just mysteriously  disappeared and Neil would buy a new pair out of spite. 

“You have had years of warnings. You have no one to blame but yourself,” said Andrew cooly, curling his lips around the rim of the glass bottle. 

Neil continued squawking at him and pouting until their former teammates wandered over, all looking thoroughly amused. 

“It’s okay buddy, it was time,” said Matt, giving him a patronizing pat on the shoulder. 

“Yea....the 90’s had a good run but it’s time to live in the present, Neil,” added Dan.

“I hate...every single one of you....” said Neil, crossing his arms defiantly, though the lightness of his voice didn’t convey even a hint of malice. 

Allison walked forward and tipped her beer to the side. “Pour one out for Neil’s  jorts everybody...”

A few of them followed suite and then Renee piped up with “Should we say a eulogy?”

Neil punched her lightly on the arm and they devolved into laughter. 

* * *

“You’re going to make such a great dad someday, Boyd,” said Allison, somewhat wistfully as she leaned back against the railing a few feet away while Matt prodded at the grill.  It was possibly she was just already tipsy.

The tallest Fox wore a black apron that bore the white lettering ‘This guy rubs his own meat’ with an arrow pointing up towards his grinning face. When Neil asked where he even managed to find the stupid  thing he explained it was at the hardware store next to the propane tanks. 

Most of the  _ actual  _ meat was plated and spread out over the folding table, now settled on the wide porch, with foil covering the dishes to keep any bugs away. He was currently working on the vegetables, turning them every few minutes with tongs. 

“Ugh,” said Dan. “Don’t give him any ideas. He already spends _way_ too much time talking about how cute his nephews ‘tiny baby shoes’ are.”

“Hey...” Matt defended, “they _ are  _ cute.”

Dan rolled her eyes but wrapped her arms around her boyfriend, burying her face in his shoulder. “Someday. A long. ..long time from now, I promise you can have your very own mini-me.”

Matt’s smile softened. 

“What...no jokes about how your mini-me would be a massive-me?” prodded Allison. 

“Well I was  gonna make a joke...” said Matt, picking up an ear of corn with the tongs and presenting it towards the girls. “But I thought it would be too corny.”

Everyone groaned. Matt grinned. Andrew popped another piece of sausage out from under a foil-covered plate and Neil gave them about three minutes to finish before Andrew was making a plate, the others be damned. 


	9. Tan Lines

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day nine prompt - Tan lines

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Andrew is a poor burned boy but Neil just wants another day in the sun with his Foxes.
> 
> ~*~
> 
> All credit to Nora, I own nothing.

The start of the new week brought with it the starting striker of the Houston Sirens. Neil and Andrew had left early that morning to retrieve Kevin from the airport. Luckily, for Andrew at least, the man was still exhausted from his early flight and napped for the first half hour back to the cabin. During the last ten minutes he’d woken and started grumbling about food and caffeine until Andrew stopped at a  McDonalds drive thru, hoping that at least putting something in his mouth might stall the inevitable. 

By the time they arrived back to the cabin Kevin was fully awake and alert and after a few quick pleasantries, immediately began to regale them all with the entire play-by-play of the championship game two nights before. Despite explaining to the striker that they had, in fact, watched his game – something he should be  well aware of since they called him on skype the day before to offer condolences, Kevin was undeterred. When he looked to Andrew for input, asking about a specific shot he’d taken on the goal, the blonds only reply had been a stony stare and ‘ _ It is nine thirty in the fucking morning, Kevin. _ ’

Neil seemed to be the one willing to indulge him and they talked for more than an hour about the game. He seemed in good spirits at least. Sure, losing championships had been a blow to the team but they had played well and only lost by two points. 

“Alright stickball fanatics,” Allison interrupted, foisting a pile of garments in Kevin’s arms until he stopped talking. “You can talk more shit about the Tsunamis down by the lake. Get dressed so we can go.”

Kevin glared up at her for only half a second, instead turning his attention towards the pile of clothes in his arms. 

“I brought my own clothes, Allison...”

“Didn’t ask! Also mine are better. Now get dressed.”

With a huff, Kevin hugged the fabric ball to his chest and wheeled his suitcase behind him. Neil helped him carry it upstairs to his room before retreating to his own to change. 

Andrew opted to stay inside for the day – something about not waiting to deal with Kevin until he got all the  Exy talk out of his system. ‘ _This is supposed to be a fucking vacation_.’ Though Neil partly suspected he wanted to take a break from the sun since his cheeks, nose and shoulders were considerably red despite Andrew's many declarations that he was  _ not _ sunburned. Neil still thought he smelled suspiciously like aloe for someone who  _ wasn’t _ burnt. 

Leaving the goalkeeper to his own devices, Neil walked onto the porch to join the rest of them. Matt and Nicky were standing a few yards away talking with Kevin and Aaron, all comparing their similar board shorts made by Allison’s company. The girls were standing on the opposite side of the steps peeling what looked like stickers from a sheet of paper. 

“What are those?” he asked when he approached. 

Renee smiled up at him, showing him the small, peace-sign sticker on her hand. She then stuck it to her clavicle above the yellow wrap she wore over her bathing suit. Allison was doing something similar with a little heart sticker and Dan with a star, though they were sticking theirs on their hips. He raised a brow in question. 

“It’s for when you tan,” explained Dan. “I might have to replace the sticker for a few days in a row for it to show up but for you pale folks you should be able to take it off at the end of the day and have a little tan line.”

Neil scrunched up his face in a pout. “I’m not pale.”

Dan only laughed. “I mean, you’re not _Minyard_ pale but around that farmers tan you still sort of fall into that ambiguously European color scheme.”

She poked him in the gut and Neil twitched back, looking down at his chest. He was wearing a  t-shirt  but she was right. While his upper arms, legs, neck and face were quite tan, his forearms a were usually covered by his bands and his torso with a shirt, leaving them several shades lighter. While Andrew tended to just burn and then fade back to his typical vampiric shade, Neil’s complexion was much darker, at least the parts he exposed to the sun. He chewed his lip for a moment. It would be nice to even everything out. Especially since they were so secluded and the risk of strangers ogling his scars was next to nothing. He pulled off his shirt, flipping it back so it laid on his shoulder over his towel. Dan and Renee gave approving smiles while Kevin and Aaron, who had noticed the act from across the porch, watched curiously. He just shrugged in their direction before turning his attention back to the girls. Dan held up the sticker sheet with a grin. 

“Want one?” she teased.

Neil looked from the sticker on her toned abdomen to the sheet. There were many different shapes and  sizes but he wasn’t sure he wanted to deal with the others teasing him about it. However, when Nicky noticed what they were doing he bounded over. 

“Ooo! I want one!” he said, snatching the sheet from Dan. His fingers traced over the stickers until he plucked a butterfly from the package and stuck it to his chest. 

They managed to talk Matt into taking a dragonfly and surprisingly, when Allison slapped a four leaf clover to Kevin’s abs he didn’t rip it off immediately. 

“I don’t know why you would  bother; I am going to wear a shirt most of time anyways. Too much sun exposure is bad for your skin...” he grumbled. 

Allison slapped his shoulder, “Suck it up Day, vacation rays don’t count, even for your Irish ass.”

He glared at her for a moment before turning towards the steps. Neil hesitated for a moment, eyeing the stickers. Aaron hadn’t taken one but the itch to go along with the rest of his teammates bubbled under his skin. He reached for the sheet and hesitated. 

Allison’s assessing look turned contemplative before her glossed lips broke into a cat-like smile. “I have an idea....” she announced. 

The former Fox  gestured for Renee to go fetch a pair of scissors from inside and Allison pulled a pen from her beach bag. Why she had a pen in there he would never know. But five minutes later Allison was sticking a little fox paw to his hipbone and taking a step back to admire her work. She’d cobbled together the shape out of scrap stickers and sacrificing a few of the others for the bigger pieces. His ears were tinged red when he looked  up but the taller woman just ruffled his hair and swept past him towards the stairs. 

* * *

Later that evening, Neil had almost forgotten about the sticker on his skin. He kept his shirt off most of the day, applying only a low SPF sunblock and was pleased to see the faint, light mark of a fox paw when he peeled off the paper in the shower. It was even more noticeable after he took the time to shave, standing at the sink while he cooled off from the steamy water. Andrew was in bed already with a novel perched on his knees. He closed the book at Neil’s approach and plucked the reading glasses from his eyes. He only wore them when they were alone, opting to squint in front of the others rather than admit his eyesight had diminished slightly over the years. Neil liked to joke that he should eat more carrots, Andrew threw back that carrots were for rabbits. The first time they had that particular discussion Neil launched into a retelling of a discovery channel documentary he’d watched and how carrots weren’t actually good for rabbits to eat often. Andrew had kissed him into silence after the first two minutes of letting him ramble in order to get him to shut up. 

Tonight he held his tongue as he crawled into bed, walking across the  king sized mattress on his knees until he was safely in the middle. Before he could  settled down Andrew’s hand shot out and grabbed his waist. Keen, hazel eyes narrowed in confusion as he tried to make sense of the new mark on Neil’s skin. Even with the lack of glasses Andrew was so attuned to every scar, every mark on his body that he could still tell something was off. Neil shuffled closer and Andrew’s other hand reached out, running two fingers along the pale little paw on his hipbone. He shivered. 

“You would be able to see it better if you put your glasses on,” he finally teased. 

Andrew glanced up at him through long lashes but kept silent. Instead he heaved him over his  middle so Neil straddled his pajama clad hips. Neil was only in his boxer-briefs again. He preferred the soft feel of the sheets against his skin but rarely slept that way unless they were alone. But right  now the cool air-conditioning beating down on his shoulders made him long for the warmth of the blankets. Andrew’s hands glided up and down his sides and he shivered again. 

“I’m cold,” he complained with a small pout. 

Andrew paid him no mind, sitting up until he could lean forward and press a kiss to the little paw on his skin. His lips were warm and suddenly the AC didn’t feel so cold anymore, not when his insides were beginning to heat like warmth of the sun rising on a summer day. 

“You do not feel cold to me,” said Andrew, leaning in to kiss him again. 


	10. Popsicle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day nine prompt - Popsicle
> 
> ~*~
> 
> RATING CHANGE FOR THIS CHAPTER ONLY. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. EXPLICIT SEXUAL CONTENT. 
> 
> Chapter Rating: E (smut, anal sex, anal fingering, blow jobs, hand jobs, slutty stuff with a popsicle)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Neil is a tease, Andrew gets revenge. 
> 
> ~*~
> 
> All credit to Nora, I own nothing.

It was 12:07 in the afternoon and somehow several of the Foxes were already tipsy. And bickering.   
  
Aaron had goaded Kevin into doing shots with him after they ate lunch and now Kevin was arguing with him about the historical and continuous benefits of using leeches in medicine while Aaron scrunched up his nose in protest. Andrew, who was leaning against the couch next to them, would occasionally toss in his own made-up facts purely to irritate Kevin. The goalkeeper was nursing a beer but being sober had never stopped him from trying to rile up his former roommate. 

On the other side of the room Matt had a bowl of clementine slices in front of him and was asking Dan how many she thought he could fit in his mouth. 

“I bet I can do....fifteen,” he guessed. 

“You’re a hazard to society,” said Dan, jumping up to sit on the counter. 

Allison cackled and pushed the bowl closer. “And a coward. Do twenty.”

The calmest of the bunch was unsurprisingly Renee. She was behind the counter handing Nicky an ice tray, which he upended into a large pitcher full of blood red liquid and cut fruit. There were four of the pitchers on the counter but only enough ice made for two of them. 

“I think we may have made too much,” said Renee, hands on her hips as she looked down at the drinks. 

“What is it?” asked Neil, curious since it contained a lot of fruit. 

Nicky looked at him brightly. “Sangria! My special recipe.”

He explained the ingredients and that he’d made it before breakfast so the fruit and honey should be infused in the wine by now. 

“You’re right though,” he continued, frowning at the pitchers and then Renee. “I think we overdid it.”

Renee drummed on the counter a few times and then straightened abruptly. “Oh! I have an idea!”

After a good thirty seconds of rummaging through the cabinet under the island, Renee reappeared with some sort of silicone device in her hands. They made a popping sound as she plucked them apart and showed them to Nicky. 

“You....are a genius and I love you.”

Renee smiled sweetly and turned to the sink to wash out whatever it was she had found. A few minutes later Neil finally caught on. It was some sort of popsicle mold. Renee poured the red  liquid inside the  tube like shapes and then shook free several wooden sticks from a baggie she had pulled from the same cabinet.

They didn’t break out the popsicles until a couple hours later when they headed back to the lake. Kevin had insisted they wait at least _two hours_ after eating before they swam again (ignoring the fact that they were all tipsy and some on their way to being fully drunk). Andrew crunched through his on the  two minute walk to the lake and then complained of brain freeze while they laid down the towels and set up the chairs. Neil still had his though, sucking and licking it thoughtfully, enjoying the natural flavors of the fruit and honey and the bitterness of the wine that made it not too sweet. 

Andrew flopped down in his hair and prodded at his temple, a grimace on his face. The others were already at the  waters edge and Neil stood in between, his body twisting absently as he tried to make up his mind about sitting or heading towards the water. He shoved the frozen tube farther in his mouth and let his lips curl around the cylinder. When he turned back to Andrew the blond was watching him intently, stare fixed on Neil’s mouth. Neil smiled around the ice-pop and pulled it from his mouth with an obnoxious slurp. 

“What?” he asked, genuinely amused. 

Andrew shifted in his seat, his hands white knuckling the metal armrests of the beach chair. “Nothing.”

It didn’t look like nothing. There was a slight frown on Andrew’s lips and even though he was wearing sunglasses he was still staring. Neil took the few steps to close the distance between them, ignoring his friends who were now trudging into the lake behind him. He dropped to his knees in the sand and sat back on his ankles in front of Andrew to watch him. Neil gave the popsicle another long lick before pushing it between his lips again. It was halfway gone now and some of the juice was running down his fingers as the summer sun helped speed up the melting process. 

“What?” he asked again. 

Andrews lips curled  back and he narrowed his eyes behind the black frames. “You are obscene.”

Neil’s head dropped to the side, his cheeks hollowing out as he gave another mighty suck. Auburn brows knitted as he tried to riddle out the meaning behind Andrew’s words. It hit him a second later when Andrew shifted uncomfortably. He knew the reason behind that particular movement. 

When he pulled off the popsicle, this time with a purposeful,  exaggerated ‘pop ’, Neil leaned in. He braced a hand in front of Andrew’s on the armrest and hovered over him, licking the tip of the popsicle. 

“Does this bother you?” he asked, tongue running from the bottom to the top before sinking his lips over it again. He pushed the thing so far in his mouth that only the stick was visible before pulling it out again. Andrew’s breath hitched. “I can go away, if you want.”

Somehow the distance between them had closed. Andrew was leaning  forward and Neil hovered closer. The juice from the sangria-pop dripped between Andrew’s spread thighs the blond watched keenly as Neil took another long suck. 

“One hundred and eighty seven,” growled Andrew. 

Pale fingers on his chin startled Neil and his eyes were still blown with surprise when Andrew pressed a hard kiss to his cold, red lips. He pushed him away just as quickly as he’d pulled him in and Neil laughed, though his breath quickened a little to much go entirely unnoticed. Andrew pressed his thighs together in an effort to hide the growing bulge in his swim trunks and Neil grinned cheekily, turning towards the water. 

“You will pay for that later, Josten....” 

“Promise?”

The last thing he saw before he turned his attention to the lake was Andrew’s middle finger.

* * *

It had been a long day. Between the sun, the day drinking, and Kevin challenging anyone who would pay attention to some sort of competition (in this case, racing Neil to the other side of the cove and back), Neil’s body felt heavy and pleasantly spent. He had gotten a little more sun than intended, having forgotten to reapply sunscreen after a couple hours splashing around in the water. His upper chest, shoulder and cheeks had taken most of the ultraviolet's and now the smattering of freckles visible around the myriad of scars was even more prominent than before. 

Crawling onto the massive bed, Neil flopped down in the middle, flipping over so his back hit the mattress with a ‘pfft’ as he star-fished in the middle. He was still warm from his shower and took a moment to let the air cool him down, resting his wet head on Andrews pillow – something the blond was bound to complain about. 

As if on cue, Andrew opened the door and closed a few seconds later, locking it behind him. He was wearing a loose t-shirt and pajama pants, the hems pooling around his bare feet as they slapped across the wood floor. When he turned, Neil noticed the object in his hand. Andrew’s fingers were carefully pinching a familiar wooden stick as he held one of Renee's popsicles aloft. Neil perked up at the sight of him and started to move. 

“Stay,” Andrew commanded, pointing at him with the popsicle still in his hand. “And take those off.”

He followed Andrew’s eyes where they settled on his crotch and then snapped back up to look at the blond, his own pupils blowing wide. Neil immediately reached down and wiggled out of his underwear before tossing them off to the side. It was starting to get cool on top of the  blankets but he didn’t think he’d have to worry about that for long. He pushed himself up on his elbows as Andrew ran an assessing gaze over his bare skin. His eyes lingered for a moment on the fox paw mark on his hip before trailing upwards. He sucked the popsicle in his mouth, pulling it in and out a few times, slowly, for good measure. Neil’s mouth went dry. 

“Let me guess....” asked Neil, trying to keep his breathing even. “Payback?”

Andrew smirked around the frozen treat. “Something like that.”

At a  snails pace, Andrew stepped on the hems of his pants, using one hand to push the waistband over his hips and ass. They fell to the floor. A few moments later he grabbed a fistful of his shirt and pulled it over his head, careful to switch the popsicle between hands as he released his arms. He climbed on the bed, giving a cute little hop to get onto the high surface and Neil had to  bite his lip to keep from teasing him about it. He already felt like he was in deep shit as it was. 

Andrew shuffled across the bed in his boxer-briefs until he was hovering over Neil’s thighs. He ran his tongue along tube and then swirled it around the tip, holding blue eyes captive the entire time. Neil wanted to say something. How much it turned him on or what he wanted Andrew to do with the popsicle. But the words got caught in his throat. Which was odd because usually when they were in bed Neil couldn’t shut up. And despite Andrews complaints for him to stop talking he knew that the other man liked it. Instead Neil just swallowed thickly and watched the way Andrew eyes briefly left his own to flick down to his throat before catching his gaze again. He popped the tube from his mouth. His mouth that was red and glistening with sangria. Neil started to sit up, wanting his own mouth on Andrews, but a firm hand pressed against his chest, pushing him back so he was propped up only by the pillows behind him. 

“I’m going to need an encore,” Andrew said casually, “Since that earlier performance was wasted.”

Neil smiled as Andrew lowered the popsicle to his lips. He opened them willingly. Neil let Andrew push the cold cylinder into his mouth. He swirled his tongue and hollowed out his cheeks, looking up at Andrew through long, dark lashes as he sucked. He held on with as much suction as he could when Andrew pulled his hand away, making an obscene smacking sound when the thing finally left his lips.

As Andrew settled more of his weight across Neil’s thighs, he used his free hand to push Neil’s arms above his head. Holding the popsicle to the side, the blond leaned forward and finally brought his lips within reach of Neils. After a whispered ‘ _ stay _ ,’ he gave Neil what he wanted. 

The kiss was slow - an intoxicating mix of cold and hot as their mouths melded. It tasted like fruit and wine and even better than then the sangria itself. Andrew bit down and Neil felt a double sting of pain, on his lip and on his ribcage where Andrew had pressed the  frozen ice pop to his skin. Neil hissed into the kiss and Andrew pulled away, leaning down to lick the spot he’d touched. Neil shivered and squirmed but kept his hands in place, so Andrew continued. He dragged the popsicle along his scars, along ridges of muscle and enticing protrusions of bone, each time following the cold trail with a swipe of his tongue, ending with a kiss that nearly bruised. Neil’s breathing grew labored and his erection swelled between them, wanting more friction than the occasional brush of Andrew’s abs or chest as he moved. He twisted the pillows above his head between his fists to keep from reaching for his own cock,  determined to let whatever Andrew had in mind play out. 

“Andrew....” he breathed, raising his hips a little only for Andrew to push them down with a hand and a kiss to his waist. 

“Impatient,” he muttered, dragging his teeth over Neil’s hip before sucking an actual bruise to the skin. 

Neil whimpered. A decidedly needy sound but he could care less. 

Andrew continued his ministrations, even dragging the tip of the popsicle along his swollen dick. Neil hissed and started to recoil from the sudden cold but Andrews tongue along his shaft a moment later held him in place. He continued his teasing until there wasn’t much left of the treat. When it was just a  stub he reached back up to press it against Neil’s nipple, licking away the juice that melted there. And finally, he took the last bite, chewing it, swallowing and tossing the stick to the side. They watched each other and Neil almost asked ‘ _what's next?"_ but Andrew shifted down on the bed and rubbed his palm along Neil’s cock. Hazel locked on blue, fingers tightened around warm skin. Andrew sank down over his length, his cold mouth sliding down until there was nothing left exposed. The sensation was....new...and _fucking amazing_. Neil moaned quietly and pressed his head back into the pillows, no longer able to hold eye contact. Not unless he wanted to come undone right then. 

Warmth seeped back into Andrew’s mouth as he sucked and licked and swallowed Neil whole. And Neil himself was burning. He tried to keep from bucking his  hips but Andrew’s hands eventually clamped around him to keep him from moving as his head bobbed up and down at a quicker pace. 

“Fuck....M’drew....”

Andrew pulled off and licked once up his length, dropping one hand to curl around the base, squeezing. 

“Do you want to...?” he asked, a little breathless. 

Neil tipped his head down, knowing how blown apart he looked. “Want to what?”

“Fuck,” Andrew said bluntly, giving his dick another squeeze. 

Neil sucked in a breath and held it, nodding furiously. Andrew let go and crawled up his body, pressing a searing kiss to his lips before rolling off to the side. He opened the drawer on the nightstand and pulled out a bottle of lube and a few condoms. He held up the condoms in silent askance and after a moment of consideration, Neil shook his head. They only used them when they didn’t want to make a mess since both of them had been tested years ago. 

Tossing the condoms back off the bed, Andrew rolled back over and settled between Neil’s legs. The striker let his thighs drop to the side and handed Andrew one of the small, decorative pillows behind him when he snapped towards it. He shoved the pillow under Neil’s hips and popped the cap to the lube, spreading a little on his fingers. One hand moved to ghost along Neil’s inner thigh while the other reached down, a single digit prodding at his ass. 

“Still yes?” asked Andrew. 

“Fuck yes,” he said , nodding again. 

They didn’t have sex very often. It had been years after their first kiss before they were both comfortable enough to do it and had several false starts in the beginning. Even now it took a  particular set of circumstances, a level of comfort for them to both want it. Neil was a little surprised Andrew had initiated it with the other Foxes in earshot. Usually they were wholly alone. They’d fooled around with the others nearby but usually it never went this far. 

When Andrew added a second finger Neil’s breathing hitched again and he grabbed his knees to pull his legs back even further, giving Andrew as much room to work with as possible. His world narrowed down to the slick glide of Andrew’s calloused fingers working him open. His abs tightened, his thighs  clenched and he felt his body relax. Andrew pressed feather-light kisses to the inside of his knees and thighs as he scissored his fingers, turned them,  _ pressed _ them. Neil groaned. 

“Mmm....Andrew...I’m good you can...”

Andrew curled his fingers upwards, pushing against his prostate again. Neil keened beneath him. 

“Mhm....what was that?”

He bit his lip. Let Andrew torture him with pleasure, bring him to the brink but not tip him over the edge. Not yet. 

Neil kept his eyes squeezed shut as Andrew licked along his neglected cock, sucking the tip into his mouth and then letting go so it slapped against his belly. Precum dripped against his skin and just when he knew he couldn’t take anymore Andrew withdrew his fingers. 

Letting out a deep breath, Neil stretched his legs out a little as Andrew stood on the bed. The goalkeeper stepped out of his own underwear. He kicked them to the side and settled on his knees again, spreading lube on his pale, flushed cock, already at full attention. Neil wanted to reach  out but his hands were still resolutely clenching the pillows since he hadn’t been given permission to touch. When he felt Andrew at his  entrance he craned his neck again, watching. Andrew grabbed the back of his thighs and pulled him forward a little with a question in his eyes. Neil  nodded, Andrew pressed forward. He kept sliding until Neil was filled his flushed skin hit the tight muscle of Neil’s ass. 

This time it was Andrew’s turn to hold his breath. The blond closed his eyes, stealing himself and giving Neil time to adjust. When Neil wiggled his  hips he moved. Slowly at first, but then more confident. Quicker and harder. Neil's hips tilted up to meet the snap of his own and their skin slapped together rhythmically. When his breathing grew  more harsh , Andrew curled over, putting his hands on either side of Neil’s shoulders so Neil could wrap his legs around Andrew’s waist. 

Neil cried out, Andrews stomach bumping his nearly painful erection. He wanted to come. _Needed_ to come. He felt so full. So warm. His body was humming with electricity and every time Andrew pounded into him it sent a surge of heat through his limbs. 

“Andrew...”he whined. “Can....can I touch you?”

He needed something to hold onto. Something to ground him in the moment to keep him from floating off into space. 

Andrew didn’t answer but stilled for a moment to slink his hands along Neil’s arms, pulling when he got to scarred wrists. Neil got the message and let go of the pillows, wrapping his arms around Andrew’s neck. 

“Fuck...I can’t...Andrew...”  the words were buried in Andrew's next and he couldn't be sure they would be heard. Couldn't even be sure they were in English. Or even words for that matter. 

Words were hard. _Everything_ was hard. He felt like a rubber band, pulled taut and ready to snap any second. His brain was whittled down to its barest sensations and nothing made sense except he needed Andrew to keep fucking him until he broke. Until the band snapped. 

“I’m...I’m gonna..” he warned. 

Andrew kissed him harshly and reached between  them, getting a hold of Neil’s cock and squeezing around the base tightly. 

“Not yet,” he grunted, teeth biting lightly at Neil’s throat even though he knew it would probably leave a mark. 

Neil cried out again and scratched along Andrew’s back, fingers fighting for purchase.

Finally, Andrews hips stuttered, his breath caught. He went still and sat up, pressing his free hand hard against Neil’s hip and Neil felt the rush of warmth inside. He clenched his ass, struggling to breath himself. He looked up at Andrew with wild, wide blue eyes. A silent plea. Andrew let him go, pulling out partially and slamming back into him with a quiet groan. Neil came untouched, cum spurting across his abs and chest. He reached down to try and stop the  mess but it sprayed between his knuckles anyways, a  white hot stream coating his hands and war-torn skin. Andrew rubbed at his thighs, gyrating his hips a little as he rode out his own orgasm and Neil felt so much  relief he could almost cry. 

“F...fuck....” he whispered, at a loss for any other words. He convulsed gently and a shudder wracked his entire body before finally going still. 

Above him, Andrew winced a little as he pulled out and then fell to the side, landing in a heap next to Neil. Neil pulled the pillow from under his ass and tossed it off the bed. They sat in the low light to catch their breath. Neil felt loose and heavy all over, a lazy grin plastered to his lips and hooded lids blocking out most of the overhead light. He felt like  jell-o or cooked spaghetti or some other very limp, useless thing. Andrew turned his head to the side and reached a hand across, pressing two fingers to Neil’s scarred cheek to turn his head away. His smile widened. 

* * *

After they were cleaned up and the duvet tossed on the floor to join the pillow to be washed later, Neil sidled up along Andrew in the dark. He pressed his scarred hand to Andrew’s heart and felt the steady, slow beat beneath skin and muscle. Andrew yawned quietly but allowed the touch, bringing his own hand up to grip the back of Neil’s wrist, rubbing circles over the burn scars with his thumb. When he cracked his eyes open they immediately found Neil’s, even in the dark. 

“What?” he asked quietly, only a hint of annoyance behind the sound. 

Neil tried to school his expression and shrugged innocently. Andrew’s thumb stopped moving. 

“Spit it out.”

“It’s nothing....” Neil said, the smile evident in his voice. “I was just didn’t realize you had such a popsicle fetish. I’ll have to buy them more often.”

Andrew squeezed his wrist and leaned forward, kissing him slowly. His tongue dipped into Neil's mouth and traced his bottom lip before he pulled away. He nipped Neil’s earlobe and whispered “ _....I_ _will murder you in your sleep, Neil_.” 

Neil was  definitely picking up some popsicles when they got back home. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Waaaahhh this is hard prompts are hard fluff is hard  
> Also me: Cracks out 3600 words of porn in an hour.


End file.
